Nagi No Asukara, first epi…beautifully saudade…

Nagi No Asukara, just watched episode 1 and oh my god…really beautiful! And the feeling, koi, or saudade or sehnsucht or mono no awareis there! Totally, yeah, female childhood friend, and a fear that she might be NTRed someday by a new boy in a new world. Yes, totally know that feeling! Oh man, not girl-hunting, but girl-fishing! Christ’s first disciples were fishermen, the most sacred profession on earth! But I never want my loved ones to be fished (NTRed)…and here’s why…

Ah, why can’t I go back to Japan? Exactly this reason. I don’t have female childhood friends in particular, but, you know I still remember all the girls I fell in love in Japan, especially in my school days, middle and high school, mostly high school! I am really afraid what if all my past loved ones have got married, changed their family names, become mothers, or career women…that they totally changed themselves from whom I knew, or more accurately, whom I loved and idealized. That is why I can never join high school reunions. My memories have to be eternal, so I think meeting up with them will destroy my dream. They have to be eternal. That high school uniform, blazer and ribbon, nails, lip gloss, and short skirts and loose socks, cardigans, and also sailer uniform that she wore, my memory is still vivid and lucid. I know I got turned down by them, some of them I never confessed my love to but let it die, maybe because some of them already had boyfriend, or I knew they had someone else in their mind, so it never worked out, but at least I wanted to keep these girls eternal, at least in my heart. Yes, the eternal feminine… So, to take away that from me will lose my identity of 17 years old. That is why I feel fearful to step my foot again in my motherland. I can’t even join a Japanese reunion social network mixi. What if I accidentally find out a girl I loved got married, lost her maiden name and maiden appearance, can never fit school uniform (except for Inoue Kikuko still wears school uniform, though painful…)? I would suffer from a trauma. But living in America as an immigrant is like a haven from facing that harsh reality = 3D. Yes, Gautama Buddha said 3D is impermanent, anitya, the fundamental concept to Mono No Aware. So, I bet these girls or so-called my nymphets at that time have completely changed, boy, it’s about a decade ago, and I just can’t meet them…

Hikaru and Manaka, childhood friends

So, it’s the same, I feel for Hikari, he likes Manaka (voiced by Hanazawa Kana!), his female childhood friend, but the story starts from where Manaka meets the other guy, Tsugumu the fisherboy in a new world. Yes, Hikari and Manaka are like mermaid-humans live under the sea, but come up to the surface and transfer to the new school, and then there, Manaka being fished by Tsugumu, the first special meeting that Hikari describes with a shock. Yes, like Cleopatra rolling out from the carpet, Like Miyazaki’s Laputa, a cute girl falling from the sky. How impressionistic would that be…any guy would fall for that! So, Hikari is threatened by a thought that Tsugumu might one day NTR Manaka.

Childhood friend transferred to the new world, and the ultimate symbolism is to change her last name (losing maiden name).

Ahhh, but my case, my girls have probably already been NTRed and become wives a long time ago. Yes, legally bound! How sad… That legality that I can never break, because it’s the mighty government that officially recognizes their relationship. Even as a die-hard anarchist, I feel completely powerless before the government, though I have a right to vote and run for office. So, it’s public and official and final. What’s done is done. Nothing can be changed. It’s not like my girl made a new boyfriend, but got a husband! Eternally lost! She moved on to the new world completely that left me behind. So yes, I can identify Hikari’s fear, a sense of losing someone eternally. Ahh, so saudade! Yes, girls move on so quickly and whimsically, as if the good old romantic memory didn’t exist in the first place. So, to me living in a remote place like America, thousands miles away from Japan, and watching anime is like accessing to my memory of adolescence, yes, coming of age. These romantic anime characters always remind me of the girls I loved in high school, yes, or more like that romantic feeling I had in those years. So, anime and moe themselves are already saudade!

And this anime is written by awesome Mari Okada, who wrote AnoHana and ToraDora! Yes, the OP is sung by Ray, who also sang for the OP of AnoNatsu. Yes, unrequited love, sehnsucht/saudade is beautiful. So, it’s the same feel with Onegai Teacher, AnoNatsu, and now P.A. Work is doing for Nagi No Asukara. Yes, Mari Okada and P.A. Works tie-up since Hanasaku Iroha! Yes, the scenery is so beautiful and awesome!

I don’t know yet, it’s too early to say, but I feel that this might become a masterpiece. But I want to know what Gendomike thinks about this anime! He wrote one of the greatest articles in the history of AnimeDiet, That Summer I Waited., and I’m looking forward to his commentary.

3 thoughts on “Nagi No Asukara, first epi…beautifully saudade…”

Just watched the second chapter and I gotta say this really is beautiful but I don’t know if I like it, I feel really bad for Hikari since I can completely relate to those feelings, that frustration and anger when you know your girl is getting NTRd, I don’t like how he’s mean to her but I know it’s not easy to be in that situation.
Also Chisaki likes Hikari and Kaname likes Hikari, OMG this is gonna get complicated (O_O).
I’ll continue to watch though, it’s gonna be 2 seasons long so they’ll have time to develop a good story and the art is beautiful so I’m looking forward to the next chapters ^^

Hahahahaha! Exactly! You are totally my comrade, franz! Yes yes. How sad and frustrating… Yeah he is mean because he is ahhhhhhhhh. So embarrassing! Boy, kekeke.
Me too. That is why it’s holding me up from going back to Japan. Coz I still remember the girls I fell in love in high school especially when I was 17! And I’m afraid that what if they are already NTRed and become someone else’s wives. I will have psychological trauma, PTSD. I know this sounds crazy but I’m like hikari forever. Yes forever seventeen. That’s why I feel like I’m personally experiencing this anime! Yeah the picture is just amazing!